national parkshttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/12494/all
enSelective Shutdown: Congressman Raul Grijalva's Petition to Ban Drilling on Public Lands While Public is Locked Outhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2013/10/09/selective-shutdown-congressman-raul-grijalva-s-petition-ban-drilling-public-lands-while-public-locked-out
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Saguaro_National_Park_copy1.jpg?itok=td3H4qy9" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.html">government shutdown drags well into its second week</a>, the gates to America’s national parks, wildlife refuges, and national forests remain closed and the taxpaying public is denied access. Not everyone will be turned away at the gates, however: oil, gas, and coal companies that are already drilling and mining on our public lands can proceed with business as usual.</p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">A quick survey of the contingency plans (see: <a href="http://www.doi.gov/shutdown/upload/BLM-Contingency-Plan-Dec-15-2011.pdf">Bureau of Land Management</a>, <a href="http://www.doi.gov/shutdown/upload/BOEM-Contingency-Plan-Dec-15-2011.pdf">Bureau of Ocean Energy Management</a>, <a href="http://www.doi.gov/shutdown/upload/NPS-Contingency-Plan-December-15-2011.pdf">National Park Service</a>) of various federal agencies shows how extraction can continue unfettered, even while the rest of of are shut out of our public lands. Today, there are <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/PublicLandsDrillingInfographic-4.pdf">12 national parks with oil and gas drilling operations underway</a>, and coal mining is widespread across <span class="caps">BLM</span> lands, particularly in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. </span></p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">As <a href="http://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/Article.aspx?cdid=A-25270678-13350">Corbin Hair reported on <span class="caps">SNL</span></a>:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Department of the Interior, which oversees oil and natural gas drilling as well as <span class="caps">U.S.</span> public lands, will furlough up to 58,765 of its 72,562 employees, according to its updated plan. National parks will close and reviewing new oil and gas leases will halt, but the <span class="caps">DOI</span> will continue monitoring existing operations.</p>
<p>“The majority of the personnel that are excepted are law enforcement, wildland fire, emergency response and security, animal caretakers, maintenance and other personnel that would be focused on the custodial care of lands and facilities and protection of life and property,” the <span class="caps">DOI</span>'s plan said. On the outer continental shelf, “the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement would continue to ensure the safety of drilling and production operations and issue drilling and other offshore permits, however renewable activities and five year plan work would be terminated.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At least one elected official recognizes this as unfair and unjust. On October 3, <a href="http://grijalva.house.gov/news-and-press-releases/grijalva-letter-calls-on-interior-sec-jewell-agriculture-sec-vilsack-to-halt-extraction-on-federal-lands-until-visitors-can-return/">Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack</a> urging the officials to halt mining and extraction on public lands while the public itself was locked out.</p>
<p>Rep. Grijalva’s letter reads:</p>
<!--break-->
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Secretary Jewell and Secretary Vilsack,</p>
<p>Despite the federal government shutdown making national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges and many other important sites unavailable to the public, oil and gas drilling and other extraction activities continue on our federal public lands. The lack of oversight of these potentially hazardous activities greatly concerns me, especially because of the scarcity of manpower to respond to emergencies, pollution issues or other rapid response needs.</p>
<p>I am equally concerned about the many businesses that rely on our public lands. Concessionaires that operate facilities within our public parks and other federal lands have been locked out by the shutdown. So have river and trail guides who rely on public lands and waterways to make a living. Small businesses cannot afford to be cut off from their main - in some cases sole - source of income.</p>
<p>This disparity greatly disturbs me, as does the ongoing environmental risk to sensitive outdoor areas. I urgently request the immediate cessation of mining, drilling and other extractive activities on our federal public lands until we end the shutdown and cease the lockout of federal <span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">employees and visitors.</span></p>
<p>Very respectfully,</p>
<p>Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, <span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Ranking Member, House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This week, <a href="http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/stop-mining-public-lands-while-visitors-are-locked-out">Rep. Grijalva posted a petition on Credo Mobilize</a> that allows American taxpayers to essentially co-sign his letter to Secretaries Jewell and Vilsack. Launched Monday, as of Tuesday evening the petition already has over 64,000 signatures, less than 11,000 shy of its target of 75,000.</p>
<p>Our federal lands are being mined, drilled, logged and just about everything else you can name – but because of the Republicans’ reckless and irresponsible shutdown of the federal government, we can't be there to hike or camp, and our park rangers can't be there to respond to emergencies. We need to get our priorities straight,” <a href="http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/stop-mining-public-lands-while-visitors-are-locked-out">the petition begins</a>.</p>
<p>If you agree that “fossil fuel and logging companies shouldn't have special access to our federal lands while rangers, hikers and the rest of us are locked out,” you can add your signature to <a href="http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/stop-mining-public-lands-while-visitors-are-locked-out">Rep. Grijalva's petition here</a>. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6032">BLM</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3154">bureau of land management</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14001">government shutdown</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12653">Public Lands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6499">Drilling</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3602">mining</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12494">national parks</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14002">gopshutdown</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3429">Department of the Interior</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8451">Raul Grijalva</a></div></div></div>Thu, 10 Oct 2013 01:00:00 +0000Ben Jervey7540 at http://www.desmogblog.comShould We Wait 300 Years for Clean Air in U.S. National Parks?http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/09/20/should-we-wait-300-years-clean-air-our-national-parks
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/placeholder.png?itok=F5m5Jd6Y" width="200" height="56" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>If you’ve been planning a visit to Yellowstone National Park, and are hoping for a perfectly clear, crisp day, you’ll have to wait awhile. Like 150 years or so.</p>
<p>You see, Yellowstone, like many of the United States' national parks, suffers from some pretty serious air pollution. <a href="http://www.npca.org/protecting-our-parks/air-land-water/clean-air/cleanair4parks.html#.UjpKWGRgaIk">According to the National Parks Conservation Association</a>, at current rates of progress, it’s going to take until 2163 for Yellowstone to clear the haze and once again have natural air quality.</p>
<p>Yellowstone isn’t alone. The <span class="caps">NPCA</span> crunched the numbers of ten flagship national parks, and found some disappointing results. According to their research, natural air quality in these popular and prestigious parks wouldn’t be achieved until these dates:</p>
<ul><li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">North Cascades National Park (Washington) – 2276</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Badlands National Park (South Dakota) – 2265</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Voyagers National Park (Minnesota) – 2177</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming/Montana/Idaho) – 2163</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota) – 2158</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Big Bend National Park (Texas) – 2155</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona) – 2127</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Colorado) – 2119</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Joshua Tree National Park (California) – 2106</span></li>
<li>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Sequoia National Park (California) – 2096</span></li>
</ul>
<p>Play around with this startling interactive graphic from the <span class="caps">NPCA</span>:</p>
<!--break-->
<p><img src="//cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/429001861488443392/1024/10/scaletowidth#tl-429001861488443392;520619180" style="max-width:100%" /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//cdn.thinglink.me/jse/embed.js"></script></p>
<p><br />
It shouldn’t take this long. Under directives in both the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments and the 1999 Regional Haze Rule, the parks should be restored to this “natural air quality” goal by 2064.</p>
<p>In 1977, Republicans and Democrats worked together to overwhelmingly vote in favor of restoring clean and clear air to our national parks and wilderness areas. The law requires the <span class="caps">EPA</span> and host states to cut haze pollution and, according to the <span class="caps">NPCA</span>, “Congress specified that bigger, older industrial facilities like coal-fired power plants – built before many modern Clean Air Act requirements – must be updated with modern technology.”</p>
<p>Unfortuantely, little progress has been made on that front.<br /><br />
“At the current rate of clean up it will be ten generations before our national parks are returned to natural air quality,” said <span class="caps">NPCA</span> Clean Air Program Director <span class="amp">&amp;</span> Counsel Stephanie Kodish. “With pollution control technology and Congressional approval already in place to meet the 2064 deadline, which is half a century away, it should not take longer than this nation has existed to clean the air at these national treasures.”</p>
<p>The <span class="caps">NPCA</span> has a website dedicated to this new <a href="http://www.npca.org/protecting-our-parks/air-land-water/clean-air/cleanair4parks.html#.UjpKWGRgaIk">Clean Air 4 Parks campaign</a>, with a petition to President Obama demanding that we achieve the 2064 target. Check out this short video about Clean Air 4 Parks for more info:</p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/73945735" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/73945735">300 Years for Clean Air? Our National Parks Can’t Wait!</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/npca"><span class="caps">NPCA</span></a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12494">national parks</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6039">air pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7094">National Parks Conservation Association</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12497">NPCA</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13819">clean air 4 parks</a></div></div></div>Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:00:00 +0000Ben Jervey7482 at http://www.desmogblog.comFormer Park Service Ranger Concerned About Fracking Threats To National Parkshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/02/former-park-service-ranger-concerned-about-fracking-threats-national-parks
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/fracking_national_parks.jpg?itok=pACbw1Cy" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>This is a guest post by Ellis Richard. It originally appeared at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellis-richard/national-parks-drilling_b_3474756.html">The Huffington Post</a> on June 20, 2013.</em><br /><br />
As a life-long Westerner, and former National Park Service ranger, I've spent a lot of time in and around some of America's most treasured places. I dedicated my career to protecting these parks.<br /><br />
The future of our national parks, and all of the great open spaces of the west is important to me. These powerful American landscapes helped shape our national character, and defined a way of life, and a life style so many of us value. In many ways, these places define America and give meaning and vision to our lives.<br /><br />
With those concerns in mind, this week I took our cause of balanced oil and gas leasing to the Hill and joined the National Parks Conservation Association to brief Congressional offices about our work and the<a href="http://www.npca.org/protecting-our-parks/air-land-water/mining-and-fracking/fracking-map.html"> threat fracking and drilling poses</a> to America's national parks.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>I was heartened by what I saw. Staff from more than 30 offices attended to learn about the need to place oil and gas drilling on equal ground with the future of our parks. In fact, it was standing-room-only. This kind of dialogue and interest is progress.<img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2013-06-20-FrackingBriefing012.JPG" style="width: 350px; height: 233px; float: right;" /><br /><br />
I have been blessed with the opportunity to work and live in communities across the West, from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, to Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado. It was good to share some of those experiences and see folks paying attention to the need for smarter approach to energy development.<br /><br />
I told those in attendance that we can do this by allowing responsible drilling in the appropriate places, while protecting those treasured landscapes that are part of the American heritage, and an important driver in so many of our local economies.<br /><br />
Energy development and conservation on our public lands is not a zero sum game. There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. We can achieve balance. For instance, past administrations have protected an acre of public lands for every land leased to oil and gas development. We can achieve that kind of balance if we put our minds to it.<br /><br />
The Obama administration should be planning ahead to allow for drilling in places where it won't threaten our cultural and natural treasures. But instead, drilling is encroaching on national parks and monuments, including, near Mesa Verde National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, and Pinnacles National Park. This past spring, federal officials in the Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management wanted to allow drilling rigs right next the visitor center at Dinosaur National Monument.<br /><br />
Just this week, a new poll showed a bipartisan majority of Western voters are more interested in preserving land for recreation and the enjoyment of future generations than in using them for oil and gas drilling. It's clear from this poll that people living in the west believe that oil and gas production can be done on public lands while also preserving the values of those iconic landscapes we've put aside as national parks.<br /><br />
What tourists want to see a drilling rig or take a whiff of gas in the air when they bring their families on vacation? National Parks drive local economies across the United States, especially in the West. National Parks generated $30.1 billion in economic activity each year. Visitors support local hotels, restaurants, stores and outfitters. Our great outdoors in the West also offer an unparalleled quality of life, which is why manufacturing and technological companies relocate there, providing job opportunities.<br /><br />
It's a simple fact: our communities rely on national parks, and other open spaces to attract high-paying businesses, entrepreneurs and visitors to come to enjoy our world-class recreation resources just as much as we rely on energy development – done responsibly, in appropriate places. There are some places too special to drill. Energy development on our public lands also provides economic benefits to our Western communities by creating jobs and providing American energy. I believe we can extract oil and gas responsibly from public lands and also provide the protection national parks need and deserve with a balanced approach to leasing.<br /><br />
My fellow rangers and I at <a href="http://parkrangers.org/">Park Rangers for Our Lands</a> believe we need to “look before we lease” our public lands to oil and gas development. If we take the time and do the work to plan ahead, we can stop problems before they start and protect the future of our parks.<br /><br />
We know some of these solutions will be hard to find, but that doesn't mean we can just give up. We need the <span class="caps">BLM</span> and the National Park Service to work together to do the responsible planning needed to preserve the landscapes that can affect the values of the parks we have worked hard to set aside. If they will do the landscape level planning, we can safeguard those sensitive lands around the national park. It's a balanced and reasonable alternative that extends protection to our parks while developing the energy resources our country needs.<br /><img alt="" class="alwaysThinglink" src="//cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/384086088462893056/1024/10/scaletowidth#tl-384086088462893056;235864857" style="width: 560px;" /></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12494">national parks</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13061">ellis richard</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13062">national park service</a></div></div></div>Sat, 06 Jul 2013 14:00:00 +0000Guest7295 at http://www.desmogblog.comFracking Our National Parks: America's Best Idea Threatened By Oil and Gas Addictionhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2013/04/27/fracking-our-national-parks-america-s-best-idea-threatened-american-oil-and-gas-addiction
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/fracking_header.jpg?itok=oDY2KG5h" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Teddy Roosevelt must be rolling over in his grave. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/elkhorn-ranch.htm">Elkhorn Ranch</a>, where the great Republican conservationist sat on his porch overlooking the Little Missouri River and conceived his then-progressive theories of conservation, is at risk of being despoiled by <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">fracking</a>. </p>
<p>Now sitting in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, you’d assume that Roosevelt's “home ranch” (as he called it) was protected from fossil fuel development. But the view from Elkhorn could soon be dominated by a new gas well staked just 100 feet from the site, a new bridge over the river and a new road to service nearby fracking fields. “Astronomers at Theodore Roosevelt National Park – which once offered some of the nation’s darkest, most pristine night skies – also see a new constellation of flares from nearby fracking wells,” writes the <a href="http://www.npca.org/">National Parks Conservation Association</a>.</p>
<p>Theodore Roosevelt National Park is not alone. Around the country – from Big Sky Country to the water gaps and rivers of the East – National Parks and recreation areas are being threatened by rampant, fracking-driven oil and gas development.</p>
<!--break-->
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/map.png" style="width: 550px; height: 410px;" /></p>
<p>A new report released by the <span class="caps">NPCA</span>, <a href="http://www.npca.org/assets/pdf/Fracking_Report.pdf">National Parks and Hydraulic Fracturing: Balancing Energy Needs, Nature, and America’s National Heritage</a>, explores this threat to our greatest, most valuable public lands.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>Our research revealed that some national parks are already in peril. Unless we take quick action, air, water, and wildlife will experience permanent harm in other national parks as well,” said Jim Nations, <span class="caps">NPCA</span> Vice President for the Center for Park Research. </p>
<p>“Already in peril” is right. </p>
<p>To the immediate east of Glacier National Park, hydrofracking operations are so intense that drivers will see signs warning them of the unsafe gases in the air. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn">Pronghorn</a> that live part of the year in Grand Teton National Park are now forced to migrate through fields polluted by benzene and other fracking byproducts. Wildlife habitats around the Delaware Water Gap are being fragmented by roads and other drilling infrastructure. </p>
<div>
The <span class="caps">NPCA</span> report takes five case studies (from the aforementioned four locations and also the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area) and identifies the detrimental impacts that hydrofracking can have – and in many cases already is having – on our treasured national parks and recreation areas. The impacts are broken down roughly into these five categories:</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<strong>Habitat Fragmentation and Wildlife Impacts</strong>: The fracking boom creates a road construction boom, as it demands land to be cleared for access roads to new well sites. As a result, wildlife resources are destroyed and the habitat that remains is fragmented. The <span class="caps">NPCA</span> notes that, “b<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">ecause national park </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">wildlife do not recognize park boundaries – they move in and out of parks </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">as food and shelter require – changes</span></div>
<p>in landscapes that surround national parks will lead to the loss of park biodiversity, and fragmentation will increase the intrusion of non-native, invasive species.</p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>National Park Scenic Views, Natural Sounds, and Night Skies</strong>: Fracking is loud. There are air compressors and drilling rigs and a lot of traffic. The <span class="caps">NPCA</span> writes that these “i</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">ntrusions </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">can alter the behavior of wildlife and </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">infringe on people’s enjoyment of </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">nature’s natural sounds – an effect </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">of particular concern when fracking </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">occurs near national parks.” Fracking is also unsightly. And bright. The lighting of drill pads and flaring at night is so severe in North Dakota, for instance, that the region shows up as clearly as an East Coast city on a <span class="caps">NASA</span> satellite image at night. So bright that the locals are calling it “Kuwait on the Prairie.”</span></p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/drilling_wide-1441c4009ef43edadc5fc20160cc9430b866d629-s40.jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 309px;" /> </span></p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Water Quantity</strong>: Millions of gallons of water are used for the hydraulic fracturing of a single gas or oil well. With “many thousands of wells [having] already been drilled, and trends [indicating] that </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">oil and gas fracking will continue to expand in coming years,” the <span class="caps">NPCA</span> figures that “water drawdowns for fracking have the potential to affect important </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">water supplies for native plants and animals, including both surface and groundwater within national parks.”</span></p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Water Quality</strong>: No matter how the oil and gas companies try to spin it, wastewater from the fracking process is polluted. It carries chemicals and brines and other nastiness, and the only ways of dealing with the hundreds of thousands, even millions of gallons of wastewater from a well are to inject it into deep wells or dump it on the landscape or cart it at great expense to treatment plants. (Guess which option the companies don't typically choose.) </span></p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Air Pollution</strong>: Let's go straight to the <span class="caps">NPCA</span> on air pollution: “Hydraulic fracturing activities emit </span>more pollutants than traditional oil and gas extraction methods, and some national parks are already experiencing<br />
air quality impacts associated with fracking. These pollutants include a lengthy list of hydrocarbons, methyl mercaptan, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone.” It's worth highlighting the ozone in particular here, as the pollutant directly impacts visitors to parks, as well as the wildlife and vegetation. For instance, in northeastern Utah’s Uintah Basin, near Dinosaur National Monument, 10,000 oil and gas wells created ozone levels that were worse than those of New York City.</p>
<p>Accompanying the main report are five case studies for national parks and recreation areas all around the country, all of which you can access through <a href="http://www.npca.org/about-us/center-for-park-research/fracking/">this <span class="caps">NPCA</span> website</a>. Each case study has a map, like this one of Glacier National Park, that shows the proximity of fracking operations to these treasured public lands. </p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20shot%202013-04-25%20at%208.57.10%20PM.png" style="width: 550px; height: 708px;" /><br /> </p>
<p>Honestly, this report should set off alarms for any American, regardless of where they sit on the ideological spectrum, and regardless of how they feel about fracking or oil and gas in general. These are treasured, special places that belond to all of us, that shouldn't be sold out or despoiled for private interest. </p>
<p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">In fact, the <span class="caps">NPCA</span> emphasizes that it does not, as an institution, reject hydrofracking categorically, but rather simply begs caution in development around our national parks. The recommendations laid out in the report should sound reasonable to just about any American who has ever appreciated our national park system. Recommendations like: </span></p>
<ul><li>
<span class="caps">BLM</span> require that the identity of the chemicals be disclosed to the public before drilling begins, that all flowback waters be stored in closed-loop containers and treated before they are allowed to reenter public waters</li>
<li>
The National Park Service receive the designation of formal “cooperating agency” under the National Environmental Protection Act when there is a reasonable likelihood that national park air, water, wildlife, or other resources will be affected by oil and gas activities on <span class="caps">BLM</span> land.</li>
<li>
The industry provide and pay for a comprehensive water quality monitoring plan for all park waters that might potentially be impacted.</li>
<li>
<span class="caps">EPA</span> implementation of a regulation to cut 95 percent of ozone and toxic emissions from natural gas wells developed through fracking, and take effect in 2015, take effect today and be expanded to cover existing and future wells</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, all of America's land – public and private, from the spare remote wildlands to the rural communities – deserves better protection from the pollution and ills of fracking, to say nothing of the greenhouse gas emissions that it brings about. But our national parks certainly deserve the strongest possible defense. </p>
<p><em>Images: All <span class="caps">NPCA</span>, except the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a-mysterious-patch-of-light-shows-up-in-the-north-dakota-dark">night satellite image by <span class="caps">NPR</span>/<span class="caps">NASA</span></a>. </em><br /> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12494">national parks</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7094">National Parks Conservation Association</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12495">elkhorn ranch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12496">theodore roosevelt national park</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6349">hydrofracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1286">oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1287">gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12497">NPCA</a></div></div></div>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0000Ben Jervey7107 at http://www.desmogblog.com